Bushwhacked
by El Burrito
Summary: Quistis's plan was simple: a two-day overnight hike for older and younger students, to teach responsibility and guidance. Throwing Squall, Seifer, Zell and a bunch of innocent children together in a forest, the results were, in the very least, educational. Pre-game.
1. Networking

The quad was packed. People jostled one another, craning to look the other students up and down to gain any advantage their partner's physical state would yield, squinting into their eyes as if they could size up their stamina, endurance, nature in the bewildered stares they received. Every inch of the floor was covered with tightly packed backpacks, weighed precisely and contents barely differing bag to bag.

Quistis couldn't have guessed the difference that mentioning the SeeD exams in conjunction with her mentoring programme would make. Last year two students had turned up, one of them only because she'd misread the sign and thought it was a book club. Today the young instructor could barely get in, and the meeting wasn't supposed to start for another five minutes.

The application forms she'd received spilled from her desk to the floor, to the kitchen, where her magnets didn't hold enough force to keep them all on the fridge and they littered the floor, to the bathroom where they were under decorative plaster sculptures and one Yuri Alman's was greasy from being weighed down with a bar of soap. She'd used her entire year's credit for the photocopier with the sheer number of information booklets she'd had to put together, containing the idea, rules and guidelines of the program, and she hadn't slept in almost a week, all of her time spent assigning junior classmen to potential SeeDs.

But it was worth it. The laughter as junior classmen dashed about, their training about to step up another notch, the standards of the Garden rising – as her own rank was, with this success – the lessons the SeeD candidates would learn, their own training benefiting…

"_Yoooooo_, instructor Trepe!" the enthusiastic greeting could only come from one person.

Quistis turned, her surprise – and hint of disapproval – masked by a friendly smile. "Zell! You're participating in the mentoring project?"

"HELL YEAH! I need all the credit I can get toward my SeeD entrance exam after Instructor Gibbs took such a hate to me. He had four other cats anyway. But my Pa and I used to go camping all the time so this should be AWESOME!" The blonde jumped about as he spoke, eyeing up the junior classmen, the other SeeD candidates, the roof, the floor.

"Well, you've certainly got the enthusiasm for it," Quistis smiled weakly.

"There's an enthusiasm quota? Well then I think he's already failed." Zell jerked a thumb over to where a sulky looking young man scowled at a junior classman laughing loudly with his friends, as though he could kill the kid with his thoughts.

If Quistis had been surprised to see Zell, she was gobsmacked to see this student. "_Squall _is participating in the project?"

Quistis couldn't believe she'd missed this. She'd sorted through so many applications they'd all just become a blur, but having Squall in her venture was subject for serious gloating. No one could doubt the boy's ability, but in all his time here he'd never once participated in an extracurricular activity.

"Yeah." Zell, uninterested, was leaning back, looking up the hall, "Hey do we get breakfast served for us this morning? Because they were doing a new batch of hotdogs when I walked past and camping is one thing but hotdogs are _another_!" Zell noticed that she was still watching Squall, in a rare moment of perceptiveness, and confided, "I think he's just in it because he doesn't want Seifer to get more credit than him."

"_Seifer _is here?"

Now that Quistis looked, she wondered how she'd ever missed him. Raijin and Fujin by his side, Seifer had a kid by the chin, his legs dangling in the air, as the SeeD candidate glared into his face, assumedly wishing for the same powers Squall wanted. After a time he threw him back in disgust, the kid scrambling backwards along the floor, eyes wide.

Shaking her head, Quistis disentangled herself from Zell, and climbed the stairs to the podium. "Ahem, attention!" she called. "Welcome, SeeD candidates and junior classmen. It's great to see such an amazing turn out. You've been assigned to groups of four, with two candidates and two classmen to each. If you turn to your nearest instructor, you will receive your allocation. From there, you'll have to find your bus, which will take you to Balamb. You will travel by boat around to the other side of the island. It will be a two-day hike back to Garden. Each group will receive an emergency radio and flares, for _emergency use only." _She prayed that at no point Zell had control of his group's. "I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow afternoon. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to learn, to teach, and most importantly – have fun."

Quistis was pleased with the speech. She'd rehearsed it to her mirror and a progressively uninterested Xu so many times it was burned into her memory. Unfortunately, from the point where she'd informed them their groups were with the instructors, there'd been an almighty clamour to reach the nearest teacher.

Zell weaved his way easily to the front, where someone had already ripped the clipboard from Instructor Janis's hand. There were loose sheets of paper everywhere, most being glanced over once and then tossed to the floor. Zell grabbed at a few but missed, then got lucky.

"Zell Din-ch-ed. Dinkt. Dinchet. Who is Zell Dinchet?" a tiny looking girl asked her friend.

"Zell? Oh, I heard about him at my orphanage!" Zell grinned cockily. Imagine that. He was actually renowned enough that kids in an orphanage spoke about him, worse-off kids who slept in a children's dumping ground while he was safe and warm with his Ma. He took a step forward, as the kid continued, "Yeah. It was on the roof above my bed: Zell is a crybaby chicken-wuss."

Probably he didn't need to push the kid aside so hard to reach the little girl, but the smack of his head on the tiles was strangely satisfying. "Hi, Zell Dincht, are you in my group?" he asked her.

She nodded, biting her lip. "So is my friend Robbie," she volunteered, pointing to the kid on the floor, who was rising slowly, glaring at Zell with uncontrolled hate. Oh shit. "And, um," she squinted at the sheet, "Seifer Almasy." Oh shit, shit, shit.

o0o

Nida arrived in the room late, once most groups were assembled and chatting easily. He hadn't received his confirmation email until the day before, a week after everyone else. He'd stopped to chat to Instructor Trepe, who'd gone through the computer and told him that yes, he'd been accepted, but out of all the students in the program, the system had apparently simply 'forgotten' to let him know. In a fit of excitement he was packed and ready in two hours, and settled in for some solid rest, ready for the automated alarm programmed by Ms Trepe to wake him in time – an hour after everyone else and with a message apologising for 'misplacing his request due to alternative tasks being performed.' Or, being forgotten.

No teachers had full sets of the group lists, so Nida was forced to dig on his hands and knees through discarded piles. He was halfway through when a heavy boot stepped inches from his hand. He glanced up and saw Squall – they'd done a Weapons assignment together last year, and Nida had helped Squall with his Junctioning countless times over the years.

"You wouldn't be Nida, would you?" Squall asked without a trace of recognition.

"Um," Nida wondered briefly if it was a joke, "Yes. That's me. Are we in a group together?"

"Yes," Squall told him, then turned away. Nida rose. Squall was staring blankly ahead, either sorting through his junctioned magic or just staring blankly ahead, Nida could never tell with him. Two kids stood beside Leonheart, both looking terrified.

"Hi guys," Nida grinned, "I'm Nida. Ready for the big trip?"

The kids stared blankly at him, then at Squall, then back to Nida. They didn't reply.

"Alright," Squall suddenly snapped back to the room, "We ready?"

"Yessir," one of the junior classmen, a little blond boy, piped. "W-we've been practicing for weeks." Squall glanced at him for a second, then nodded and picked up his bag without a word. Nida began to suspect that it was going to be a very silent hike.

o0o

On the other side of the room, junior classman Xanthe was thinking the opposite. Her SeeD candidates seemed to be in some sort of competition to outdo each other's stupidity.

"AND IF YOU SAY IT ONE MORE TIME SEIFER-" Zell was screaming, gesturing wildly like a maniac.

"What's that Chicken Wuss? Look, Cry Baby Zell, you're going to have to lower the volume and cut out at least 80% of the whining if you want me to listen to a single word you're saying," Seifer continued mildly, not even looking up from loading up his gunblade. Robbie stared at Seifer's weapon with undisguised awe.

"Are you really good with it?" he asked Seifer, "Is it hard? Do you think maybe you could show me?"

Seifer ignored him completely, or maybe just didn't hear him over Zell's tirade. "Can we go yet?" he asked pointedly, "Or do you need to wait for your mama to come help you carry your bags?"

Zell let out a grunty-roar, like a T-Rexaur with an injury. "Seifer-"

"Yeah I figured, but you'll just have to do the first leg without her, I'm sure she'll catch up with us soon, I've seen the legs on that Wendigo. Dunno how such a scrawny chicken-wuss came from between them, maybe she found you on the ground where your real host dropped you and just assumed that you'd slipped out, Ifrit knows you couldn't tell the difference…" Seifer delivered the most insulting speech Xanthe had ever heard absently, shouldering his gear and setting off, intently following a darker haired candidate – Squall Leonheart, she thought. Half of their year had a crush on either Squall or Seifer, but she figured that the latter group must have never heard their idol speak.

Zell had resumed his screaming, interspersed with his T-Rexaur roar, bolting after Seifer and accidentally knocking Robbie to the ground. Helping him up, Xanthe wished they'd covered junctioning already, as she could use a Cure for her growing headache. Robbie set off after them, immediately, gabbling about how cool Seifer was. It would be a long two days.


	2. Patience and Understanding

"Are your legs broken or what?"

It was the first thing Squall had said for about an hour, the first thing anyone had said for an hour. He was glaring down at Billie, their female underclassman, as she struggled behind them to climb a log. His eyes darted around them even as he addressed her, searching, Nida knew, for a glimpse of Seifer. Squall had set an uncompromising pace from the offset, while the other groups exchanged pleasantries and got to know each other, and chose a pace that their children could match. The only other group tearing off into the forest had been, of course, Seifer's. Nida could tell instantly because Zell was _still _shouting, as he had been in the quad, and as they waited in the corridor, and in the bus to the mountain. The yells had finally died down somewhat as they marched off into the forest and put some distance between them, the only reason Nida hadn't asked Squall to slow down.

Billie scrambled the rest of the way over the log, scraping her shins on the way down. She paused to examine them, eliciting a loud sigh of irritation out of Squall.

"Come on, she's just a child," Nida murmured Squall, who graced him with a brief, unimpressed glance.

"Are we _ready_?" Squall asked coldly. Both Billie and their other junior classman, Eli, nodded silently, looking terrified. Squall immediately strode away, and the others hurried after him.

They were tackling a particularly steep hill, which didn't appear to trouble Squall at all, and he rapidly moved ahead of them. He was cresting the hill without looking back when a Caterchipillar dropped from a tree in front of Nida and the kids.

Billie and Eli, looking excited for the first time since they'd left, pulled out their weapons. Nida placed a hand on his gun – he was Garden's only sharpshooter, and couldn't wait until one was required and he could show them what he could do – just in case the children needed help. Nida ran a quick scan, and discovered that it was a level 4 – perhaps more than the kids could handle.

Billie ran swiftly up to it and stabbed it in the eye with a wooden training sword, and Eli delivered a kick directly into its face. Both neglected to run back to their place in the battle line, an error Nida worried would be detrimental as it placed them both right in front of it. He was stepping forward, removing his weapon, when it unleashed a Sticky Web, showering Nida in a tacky, white secretion that clung to his arms and legs.

"Cccchhhhhiiiiillllllldddddrrrrreeeeennnn," Nida tried to call to his junior classmen, but was slowed by the thick discharge covering him. He took one step toward them, in what felt like a lifetime. It reminded him of the time he'd slipped in the cafeteria and hit his head. He'd lain in the middle of the floor for four hours during peak lunch hour, passed by literally hundreds of students who apparently didn't notice him, or hear his weak cries for assistance. As he moved, Billie stabbed it twice more, and Eli punched it in its soft belly. In retaliation, it unleashed another Sticky Web at Nida, and an Ultra Waves.

The children turned red and began bolting at the monster, attacking with a new ferocity, while Nida found he couldn't even move. Sound had dulled, and as he stood, watching the junior classmen slash and punch, feeling the damp goo slide down his face and body, his vision was blurry, as though he watched through a wall of water.

Squall suddenly appeared in the corner of his vision, storming toward the Caterchipillar. Without breaking his stride, he drew and cast Fire on it, and as it lurched in death, slashed straight through it with his gunblade, leaving it to fall before the children in two halves. The junior classmen spun on the spot, slashing at falling leaves and tree trunks. Squall gazed at Nida with barely disguised loathing.

"I was gone for _one minute_," he muttered, fumbling for an Esuna – but keeping his distance. Nida suddenly found time moving at a normal space, and wiped off as much of the monster's emission as he could. In an attempt to help, he located his own Esuna and turned to the children, but Squall held out a hand, in thought.

"Leave them like this," he decided and turned to their charges. "Hey, boy! And… girl! There's a medium-sized Bite Bug just over the hill!"

The children immediately sprinted to where he gestured, and he walked after them at his usual breakneck speed. Nida jogged behind, trying to remove the rapidly solidifying gunk from where it nestled in every nook and cranny of his body.

0o0o0o0o

On the other side of the mountain, Seifer similarly slashed through a Caterchipillar without breaking stride, almost as though he was in a hurry to get somewhere – or away from something.

"And so I hit him in the throat and then I kicked him really, really hard and – WHOA THAT WAS AWESOME – and then Sir said that I was the toughest underclassman in his WHOLE CLASS," Robbie was babbling, gasping for breath as he ran after the gunblade-wielding SeeD candidate. Xanthe knew for a fact that not one of the statements in that story was true, but she kept it to herself – for starters, it was obvious that Seifer wasn't even listening.

As soon as Zell had stopped ranting (Seifer's antagonistic comments had slowly decreased in frequency, before finally subsiding, and Zell had quieted about half an hour later) Robbie immediately took up the flow of conversation, filling the silence by directing compliments, comments and questions at Seifer (none of which garnered any kind of response or even acknowledgement). Xanthe felt a bit sad and embarrassed for him, though he didn't seem to have even noticed.

Zell was currently bringing up the rear. Xanthe had tried to position herself between the two upperclassmen as much as possible, hoping that the presence of a small girl would maybe reduce their foul language – though she was pretty sure her hopes were in vain. She didn't know how much they normally swore, but she didn't think it could be humanly possible to fit in more bad words than those used in one particularly heated argument about some girl who worked in the library.

Xanthe felt weirdly informed about the lives of her "mentors", considering the varied topics they'd covered on the way over, so she didn't feel uncomfortable dropping back to ask Zell, "Did you really run all the way to Garden from Balamb on your own, when you were a kid? Or was that just like one of Robbie's stories?" It had been Seifer who told the story, so it positioned Zell in a less positive light than Xanthe's summary, but she thought those were the facts of it

Zell looked a bit surprised at the question, but nodded. "Yeah," he told her, "I really, really wanted to be a SeeD, but my Ma wasn't so keen on the idea. So I figured, surely if I just head over there myself then she can't say no, and neither could they!"

"And it really worked?" Xanthe asked. "What did they say when you got there?"

"Well, they said no," Zell admitted, and laughed. "So I tried again, and then again. By the fifth time it took me less than a day to make the journey. Eventually Ma subsided. And Garden were too impressed, there was no way they would say no."

"Why didn't your mother want you in SeeD?"

Zell ran a hand through his slightly sweaty hair. "Oh, I dunno. You know mothers. She was always pretty overprotective of me, worried about other kids bullying me, me getting lonely and stuff. I mean, I never had any brothers and sisters and I sort of always wanted other kids around me, lots of other kids to play with all the time. She wanted me to stay with her and Pa."

They walked a few minutes together in silence. Xanthe felt a strange rush of emotion, picturing this brave little boy, running the long, dangerous, monster-strewn road away from his family.

"My Ma was the opposite," she told him, quietly. She glanced at Robbie and Seifer. The little boy's chatter continued relentlessly, as he watched Seifer shoot restful Bitebugs from the trees around them. Satisfied neither would overhear, she continued, "She wanted to get rid of me as soon as she could, cos her new boyfriend didn't like me."

Zell for once was silent, so Xanthe plowed on. "I didn't want to come to SeeD, I mean I'm not strong or brave or good at fighting or _anything_. I cried so much on the first day here that no one would sit with me for the entire year."

"Tch," Zell scoffed, "_That _is because they're stupid little kids." He stopped, knelt down, and pointed at Seifer, jabbing a Caterchipillar high in a tree with the tip of his weapon. "See him? That's the biggest bully of my year. And he isn't brave, he's just stupid. All he has going for him is being a good fighter, and so what?" Zell looked straight at Xanthe, "You, on the other hand, I can already tell are a hundred times smarter and more resourceful than him _or _me, or your friend over there." Robbie was trying to climb to help Seifer get the monster. "And you're brave enough to come on a trip like this, thinking you aren't strong!"

Zell stood up again and the two walked past their team-mates. Zell continued, "And that can't be taught. Fighting I can show you a thing or two, if you want."

Seifer was watching them with narrowed eyes as they passed. Xanthe suspected he had caught wind of the end of their conversation, but she didn't really care. She felt warm and bubbly, surprised by Zell's kind words and comforted by his presence beside her. She skipped along beside him as they moved on. Behind them, Seifer kicked Robbie into the bushes, bellowing "JUST SHUT. YOUR. MOUTH."


	3. Teamwork and Cooperation

With both children Berserked, the group was able to maintain a breakneck speed for most of the afternoon. Squall was satisfied – just – with their progress. Nida was concerned that they would exhaust their tiny energy stores, and drop dead. For some reason he found it necessary to share this concern with his companion.

"That doesn't seem likely," Squall comforted Nida.

"It's possible, Squall," Nida replied, "They're just children. We've covered 28 kilometres in two and a half hours."

It was ok progress. Seifer probably couldn't match it, especially if he and Dincht continued to use all their energy and oxygen on fighting each other. If the children needed a few hours of rest in order to recuperate, so they could match this pace the next day, it would probably be acceptable. Squall considered how best to convey his thoughts to Nida, eventually settling on, "Whatever."

Nida quickly released an Esuna to little Billie, who immediately collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Eli slumped beside her a moment later.

Squall didn't even attempt to disguise his disgust. Feeling weakness was one thing. Showing it was another. There were a lot of things he could teach these kids, and maybe would if he weren't withstanding this stupid activity just to get a few more credits on his SeeD application.

"They need a tent, Squall," Nida told him. "We've covered nearly two thirds of the trek, no one else could have moved this quickly."

Squall could only pray that Nida was right. If Seifer was ahead of them, and reached base ahead of them, he would never live it down. After another long silence where Squall gathered his thoughts, he nodded his assent. "Fine."

They pitched their tents. Once the upperclassmen were done, Nida helped the fatigued children with theirs. The kids immediately entered their tents and fell asleep. Squall decided to use the time to hunt. Nida offered multiple times to accompany him, even setting off behind him twice, until Squall eventually had to zip him into his tent, and run.

After slaying 18 bite bugs and 12 caterchipillars, Squall finally hit the jackpot. He was returning to camp, dragging his quarry, when he heard the voices of his teammates.

"What _is _it, though?" The girl was asking.

"It's flatbread," Nida explained, "I made it using just a few items in my pack, and some ingredients from the forest around us!"

"I think it's burned," the boy said dubiously.

"A little on the edges," Nida admitted, "But we can eat around that."

"To where?" The girl demanded, "Those bits are raw. Look how gooey it is!"

"Look, children," Nida snapped, sounding a little testy, "It's edible. It will keep us all going. In a survival situation, where it's life or death, it doesn't pay to be picky."

It was at that moment that Squall broke into the circle, dragging the leg of the T-Rexaur he'd just slain.

They cooked and ate the giant leg. Nida scooped his up with his horrifying bread, which the others all turned down. Once they were finished Squall took the remains away from camp, rather than risk attracting other monsters. On the way there and back he took down probably more bite bugs than he needed to, but as long as he was out here he might as well level up; Forces knew he wasn't going to pick up the "values" instructor Trepe was still trying to hammer in.

When he finally returned, the kids ran to him, worried. "Squall, Squall, Nida's sick!" they told him.

Nida was curled up in the middle of the campsite, holding his abdomen.

"What's the matter with you?" He mixed just the right amount of irritation and concern, to let Nida know that he was being a burden, but also to comfort him.

Nida didn't seem to pick up the comforting aspect of Squall's words, just groaned. "I don't feel well. It must have been the T-Rexaur."

"We all ate the T-Rexaur," the girl informed him.

"Yeah, it was probably your bread," the boy said.

"N-No," Nida shook his head, "It was definitely the T-Rexaur. Definitely."

"The bread looked-" the girl started, but Nida cut him off.

"It doesn't matter. Squall, I'm going to have to take a potion and go to bed. Will you be able to look after the children by yourself, just until the morning?"

Squall frowned. He was one of the top SeeD candidates, he'd taken a T-Rexaur down twenty minutes ago, and had camped in this forest countless times. Besides that, he felt that he and children had developed a rapport, that little… Boy, and Girl, may have started to look up to him as a hero. How hard could it be? He'd get them through the night, and what's more he would have them ready and inspired to set off at the break of dawn the next day. He let Nida know all of these things, expressing his competence, his experience, his confidence – and a little bit of hurt:

"… Whatever."

0o0o0o0o0

Further from base, moving at a speed more manageable by 9-year-olds, Seifer was rethinking things. He had assumed that the boy would naturally be the superior of the little annoyances, being a boy. But the kid had proven himself useful only for spewing an endless stream of noise, much like someone else on the team, whereas the girl had noted a hidden nest of level 20 bitebugs and allowed them to navigate around them, found a nest of delicious fastitocalon eggs by a creek, and stopped Zell from eating poisonous berries six times. The last point Seifer was not particularly grateful for, but he had to admit the kid had a brain.

Unfortunately, for some godforsaken reason she wasn't using it, and was sucking up to Zell instead of grovelling to the obviously superior SeeD candidate of the group.

As it got darker, the children began to slow. The boy had obviously been trying to cover his fatigue from Seifer, since the upperclassman had seen him wince slightly with every step, and he kept dropping back until Seifer shot him a suspicious glance or feigned interest in one of his stupid stories. Up ahead the girl seemed to easily match Zell's pace, chatting to him intermittently through the day but also remaining blissfully silent much of the time. Seifer couldn't help feeling, yet again, that he'd gotten the raw end of the deal.

Several times as the day wore on Seifer saw the girl glance back at Robbie, who was now clearly dragging behind. Finally, she tugged on Zell's arm.

"I'm getting kind of tired," she told him, "Do you think we could stop soon?"

Zell, too, looked back. Robbie was at least ten paces behind, scuffing his feet as he walked. Zell's eyes briefly met Seifer's before he turned to agree with the girl. Seifer's sense of injustice deepened.

They pitched their tents. Seifer's was almost up, well before the others', when Robbie stumbled over – tripping on one of Seifer's pegs and collapsing half the tent – asking for help. Seifer noted that the kid's tent was a mess of fabric, with poles jutting out at random angles. Pegs were scattered all over the ground.

With a grunt of frustration, Seifer barged past the kid, to where Zell and the girl were quietly, competently assembling their own dwellings.

"A word, chicken-wuss," he grunted, storming past the martial-artist into the forest, presuming his team-mate would follow.

After a few moments, there was the crunch of twigs and dry leaves underfoot as Zell appeared, quizzical and wary. He said nothing, waiting for Seifer to start.

"Ok, Cry-baby, we can both see this isn't going to work," he lead.

Zell frowned. "It's been three hours since you last acted like a stupid jerk to me. That's longer than you ever usually go, even at Garden."

Seifer couldn't deny that it had been an unusually long time without the two of them fighting, but he didn't let it stop him. "Yeah yeah, whatever. I think the best way for us to win this competition-"

"It's not a competition," Zell interjected, but Seifer had a policy of ignoring stupid comments.

"- is to split up. Take a kid each."

Zell stared at him, dumbfounded. The chicken-wuss didn't have many thoughts at the best of times, clearly this elaborately thought-out plan was too much for him.

"Ok," Zell finally responded. "Not that the idea of getting the hell away from you for the rest of the trip doesn't sound good, but… we're meant to show teamwork. How does that show teamwork?"

"Uh, it shows that we can think on our feet, make sacrifices where we have to and come up with a mutually beneficial plan. Chicken-wuss, even if we did make it over that finish line together, in last place obviously, they would know that something is up. Hell, they probably put us together so that we would fight to the death, and I would put you out of the endless misery that is your pitiful existence, and they wouldn't have to deal with you clogging up the hallways anymore, punching walls and rambling nonsense around a mouth full of hotdog-"

"OK FINE WE'LL DO YOUR STUPID PLAN!" Zell interjected, "Just SHUT YOUR BIG, JERKHEAD MOUTH-"

"Good choice," Seifer smiled, "The other thing is I call the girl."

"No." Zell told him immediately, "I'm with Xanthe. She likes me better and besides, that boy worships you."

"Exactly," Seifer replied, "I think it will demonstrate all those values, you know. Learning, responsibility. If we swap them and we all get out of our comfort zones."

Zell didn't look convinced.

"Or we could fight for it." Seifer was well known for initiating "practice battles," and fights to settle stupid bets that spiralled horribly out of control. He was still looking for an opportunity to goad Squall into one away from the eyes of Garden, and then he was going to "accidentally" blind him. That was a long-term plan, one that was still far off. But he figured he could use basically the same approach to settle this strategy. And he was right.

Zell twitched with rage, trying to hold himself back from hitting Seifer with those ham-fists of his. Seifer could see his eyes jumping between Hyperion, Seifer's face, the trees and the children behind them. The tiny little cogs Dincht called a brain must be going into overdrive.

"No," the chicken-wuss finally squeaked out, "It's fine. Fine, Seifer, you can have Xanthe because even with both your brains combined, there'll only be one on your team. I can take you even with a kid stupid enough to think you're a hero, we WILL beat you back, and when we get there-"

"Alright, settled." Seifer cut him off chirpily. He turned his back on the raging Zell, returning to the clearing. The girl had her tent assembled, and a fire crackling cosily. The boy was now trapped inside his canvas monstrosity, his leg tangled in a bunch of ropes and his feeble cries unanswered. Well, that was Zell's problem now. Seifer planted himself across from the girl, and filled her in on the change of plan.


	4. Togetherness and Time-Management

Billie had no idea what time it was when Squall woke them up, but it definitely felt like the middle of the night.

"Children," he hissed, standing outside their tents, "It's time to get up."

She dragged herself out of her sleeping bag, scrambled into her day clothes and crawled out. It was pitch black, and freezing. Squall had a small fire burning, and Eli stood by it, shivering. Squall's tent and belongings had been packed into a tiny, neat pack and a bird of some sort was roasting over the fire. Billie wondered whether he had even slept, and how many hours he had allowed them. Nida was nowhere in sight.

Billie wandered over as Squall took the food off the fire and divided it into three portions. Her stomach turned. It was too early for food. There was no indication whatsoever that the sun was anywhere near rising.

She sat beside Eli, and both of them poked unenthusiastically at their breakfast. Her eyes were sore, her head throbbed with the beginnings of a headache, and she inexplicably felt like crying. Squall had a map stretched out in front of him and paid no attention whatsoever to the kids.

"Once you've finished eating, pack your things. If we leave before sunrise I think we could be back at Garden before noon," he told them, not looking up from his map.

"What about Nida?" Eli asked.

Squall spared the tent of his fellow SeeD candidate a brief glance. "He seems to still be unwell. He's going to sleep longer until he feels better, then follow. He should make a better pace than us without you two to slow him down, so we should hopefully reach Garden around the same time."

After a few mouthful of the admittedly delicious meat, Eli and Billie packed their things while Squall extinguished the fire. By the time they were ready to leave, the sky was… still pitch black.

Squall lead the march into the darkness. They'd travelled maybe 300 uncertain metres, stumbling over tree roots and holes, when Eli spoke up.

"Squall," he whined, "I need to use the bathroom."

Squall sighed so loudly birds in the surrounding trees stirred. Maybe that was how he'd caught them breakfast this morning.

"Can you use a tree?"

"Yes," Eli replied.

"We'll wait here."

Eli shuffled off into the trees. Billie sat against a tree beside Squall, and immediately felt her eyelids growing heavy. She listened as Eli continued into the forest.

"How far are you going?" Squall finally called, as the sounds of the boy grew faint.

"I don't want you looking!" Eli yelled back in disgust.

"It's PITCH BLACK," Squall retorted. "Look, the girl and I are setting off, you can catch up."

"Fine," Eli called back, "I just AAH!" Billie's eyes shot open again as Eli screamed from deep in the forest.

"Wait here," Squall snapped shortly, drawing his gunblade and running after the sound.

Fully awake, Billie sat up, listening. Squall's footsteps pounded confidently through the trees, following the call. Eventually they, too, faded away and she was left in complete silence. Then there was a grunt near her left elbow. She squinted into the darkness but could see nothing. She hadn't been the best at monster call class – could it be a T-Rexaur? Or a caterchipillar? There was a shuffling of leaves and she heard another grunt – and that was enough, before she leapt to her feet and sprinted after Squall. She let out a tiny frail scream: "Squaall!", cut off as she slammed heavily into a hard object and lost consciousness.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Kilometres away, Xanthe was regaining consciousness from an uneasy sleep. The news of their "partner swap" had unsettled her, as she wasn't exactly looking forward to spending the next day with irrational, edgy Seifer. Additionally, there were bugs EVERYWHERE, and all three boys were snoring loudly in their adjacent tents. And now this.

"Hey! Girl! Girl! Quick! Get up!" Seifer had reached an arm into her tent and was shaking her leg furiously. She groaned and shook him off, rising unwillingly.

"What time is it?" she murmured.

"Time to get out of here and leave Chicken-Wuss to eat our dust," was the reply, "Get up."

She threw a coat on over her uniform and crawled groggily out into the forest. The sky was just giving an indication of lightening: dawn was probably half an hour off. Seifer's belongings were already condensed down to a single pack, and he was shovelling some sort of porridge concoction into his mouth as he watched her rise. He pointed with his spoon to another bowl sitting by the remnants of the fire, then started kicking the pegs loose from her tent.

Xanthe ate hurriedly, swallowing the plain gruel with no pleasure. By the time she was finished Seifer had packed her belongings for her and was ready to set off. She shouldered her backpack, and took a moment to look around the camp. Neither Zell nor Robbie appeared to have stirred. The embers of their fire were nearly out – they would probably be dead by the time their other teammates were ready for breakfast. Xanthe took a step forward, to nourish them a little for the next hour or so, but Seifer grabbed her by the backpack and yanked her sideways, towards the forest. She stumbled forward a few paces and he strode past. With one final glance around her, she followed.

Seifer's pace was uncompromising from the start. Xanthe had worried about making conversation – Zell had been easy to talk to, she felt that he listened to her without judgement, and didn't think of her stories as the prattling of a stupid girl like most older students seemed to. With Seifer she had imagined a lot of uncomfortable silences, sighs and general tension, but she really needn't have worried.

"And the sulky bastard probably wasn't weighed down by the Chicken wuss and chubby legs junior back there, so it's pretty possible he's managed to pull ahead. He uses all that time he could have friends or a social life to train like some kind of robot just to try to approach my level – he hasn't, by the way – so we'll have to move quickly to get ahead."

Xanthe considered mentioning that it wasn't a competition, but she didn't think Seifer would a) care, or b) respond very well. In any case, it was clear Seifer didn't need any sort of encouragement to keep up the "conversation."

"I figure as long as we keep moving in a straight line we can hopefully make some ground on them. So remember – don't change course, even a little."

It was the worst plan Xanthe had heard since… well, since Zell had let her in on a few of his money-making schemes the day before, but before that, not for a while.

"Are there no cliffs, and no water between us and the end point?" she ventured.

Seifer glanced back at her for a long moment. "Straight line," he finally repeated, and they plunged on.

0oo0o0o0o0o0

The sun was high in the sky when the heat drove Robbie from his tent. He could see Zell through a tear in the side of his tent, slumbering deeply and snoring loudly through his open mouth. There was no sign of Xanthe or Seifer, and the fire had burnt out. Robbie approached Zell's tent cautiously.

"Zell?" he asked, then louder, "Zell!"

With a lot of snorting and grunting, Zell shot awake and was on his feet in seconds, bashing his head against the roof of his tent and staggering out into the clearing. He looked around himself, wildly.

"Aw, MAN! Seifer and Xanth got the lead! I wonder when they left? Did you hear them?"

"Nope," Robbie shrugged, "What's for breakfast?"

Zell had packed a package of frozen hotdogs and several packets of dehydrated stew. Of course, that had been yesterday morning and the hotdogs were now limp and warm. Chopped up in cold, gluggy stew, the taste was truly horrendous. Robbie vomited twice before they had even finished packing, and his stomach was churning as they eventually made their way out of the clearing.

"So how are you at reading maps?" Zell asked companionably as they walked.

Robbie wasn't fooled. Seifer had been right, it seemed, about Zell's density. "Don't they cover that in SeeD training?"

"Yeah but I think it's worth getting started early! My grandpa taught me when I was younger than you, I can help you." Zell thrust a map at Robbie. He took it uncertainly.

"I can read a map," he said defiantly.

"Oh, cool!" Zell exclaimed, "You are a cool kid. Well how about you take control of navigation? I'll put my complete faith in you! Obviously it's a bit tricky though so let me know if you need a hand!"

Robbie swallowed. He actually hadn't scored very well on the two navigation tests they'd had in class – but he figured he couldn't be worse than chicken wuss. He knew Seifer would be ashamed if he knew Robbie couldn't even read a map better than Zell could. He stared down at the mass of swirly lines – he had no idea where they fit in, or how to figure it out.

"This is us, to start you off," Zell smiled, pointing to a spot. Robbie could see nothing that set it apart from the other swirls, but yanked the map aside anyway.

"I know that!" he blurted. He spun the map sideways, pointed in the direction they were already walking and declared, "This way!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o


	5. Trust and Reliance

Squall stood in the silence of the dark forest, listening. Both the boy and the girl had gone from panicked shouting to dead silence, and now he had to locate them both. He had hoped their eyes would adapt to the darkness, but it seemed that the thick overgrowth of trees in this area was successfully blocking out all light. He pulled out his torch and started searching.

"Hey, kids! Where are you?" he called.

There was no response from the girl, but the boy's voice came from afar, "I'm down here!"

Perplexed by the statement, and the distance the boy seemed to have covered, he made his way in that direction. He pulled up abruptly when the ground suddenly fell away ahead of him. "You're down the cliff, aren't you?" he asked wearily, knowing the answer already.

"I'd just found somewhere private to go, then all of a sudden I was down here!"

"Are you injured? Are you alright otherwise?"

"My ankle is sore, but I'm ok. And… I fmmffmfmph." The boy trailed away into a hurried muttering, then silence.

"What was that last bit?"

There was a pause, then the kid repeated, "I can't find my pants."

Oh, Cereberus's heads. "Wait there," Squall snapped, "I'm going to find the girl. Don't move. Actually – look for your pants."

He stormed back the way he came, flashing his torch from tree to tree, calling. He received no answer. He couldn't remember how far he'd run after the boy's yells, but he must have covered at least 50 metres on the way back before he stumbled upon her crumpled little body at the base of a tree. She was breathing steadily and her pulses felt fine, though there was a large lump on her forehead and Squall couldn't rouse her. A branch stuck out above her, at exactly the height of her head. Squall quickly cast Ice, and wrapped the summoned element in a rag from his bag. He tied it around her head as a makeshift icepack, then lifted her easily into his arms. At least she was light.

He returned to the cliff's edge, to ponder the next problem.

"Kid?" he yelled down.

"Still here," the boy replied.

Squall asked the most important question he could think of at the time: "Did you find your pants?"

The silence that greeted him was answer enough. He moved onto the second most important question. "Can you get back up?"

"I've tried," the kid yelled back, "It's too steep! And it's so high, I'm scared I'll fall again! I hurt my leg on the way down."

Shiva's icy navel, he hadn't asked for the boy's life story. He ran through all the possible options, pulled the map out and studied it, and finally gave in. "Fine," he sighed, "I'm coming down to you." With his own pack, the girl's pack, and the dead weight of the injured girl it wasn't going to be easy, but at least all three of them were still alive. Where in Ifrit's fiery hell dimension was Nida?

0o0o0o0o

The sky was a pale pink, the birds were cheerfully chirping nearby, and Xanthe was not crossing the river. It had played out exactly as she had imagined: Seifer led them through an increasingly difficult path through thick undergrowth, over fallen logs and ridiculously steep rock faces, and now they were at a wide, fast-flowing river throwing foam over their shoes. She couldn't imagine that a slightly roundabout way could have possibly slowed them down any more than the path they'd taken, but of course she couldn't say that.

"I'm not getting in there," she frowned, not for the first time.

"It's nothing," Seifer tried some light laughter, gave up, and eyed the river warily. "I'll go first."

He took his pack off, and held it above his head, stepping into the water. It reached about mid-calf. By his second step it was above his knees. One step later and it was above his navel. He turned back to look at Xanthe, who raised an eyebrow.

He continued to wade. In the centre of the river he fought to keep his chin above the water. Xanthe wondered idly what would happen if he were fully submerged, dragged downriver and drowned. He had the map, and the food, and it was possible she'd fail if she let her team mate die. After a few uncertain minutes his body began to rise from the depths again, and he eventually staggered onto the opposite bank.

"See?" He yelled over to her, holding his hands out in a show of ease, "No problem!"

He slung his backpack onto the ground, and plunged back in. He fought his way back over to her side, climbed out of the water, and collapsed on the ground. He lay facedown, panting, for about fifteen seconds, then leapt back up.

"Alright." He stood in the water with his back to her, arms held out from his body, shaking slightly.

Xanthe was still unconvinced.

"C'mon, kid," he sighed. "Just hang on and trust me. I won't let you get swept away to your death."

She quickly weighed up the options. All of their stuff was on the opposite bank. Seifer was going to plow across anyway, because that's what he planned to do. Bizarrely… she did trust him. Even if it was just out of sheer stubbornness, and drive to beat Zell, Seifer would let nothing get in the way of his plans. She took a step forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and jumped onto his back.

He waded forward, barely seeming to notice the extra weight on his back. She had to hand it to him, not many of the students at Garden had the strength, or the guts, that Seifer was showing. Within four steps the water was up to his armpits. Her backpack was skimming the water – luckily there was nothing of real importance in there.

They made slow progress. Seifer was obviously tired, and the pull of the river was strong. Xanthe could feel it pushing against her, but luckily Seifer stood firm. At its deepest Seifer's face was barely above the water, and Xanthe had to take off her bag and hold it above her head until her arms ached. They got through it, though, and as the water slowly became shallower Seifer got cockier.

"See – easy as pie. We'll be at Garden in no time. Should've just listened to me in the first place, pipsqueak! I told you we could do it."

Xanthe said nothing. A lot of what he was saying was true, and she certainly didn't want to lower his spirits. That's why she didn't point out that up ahead, on the bank, a gang of caterchipillars were tearing Seifer's backpack – containing all the food, drinking water, and the maps – to shreds.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

As the sun beat brightly overhead – and slightly to their left, which perplexed Zell a small amount, considering the direction they _should_ be moving in – Zell and Robbie climbed over the same log for the third time.

"Now you're 100% sure we're going in the right direction?" Zell asked gently. He was definitely regretting trusting this kid with the map, but what could he do? He'd attempted it as a small confidence booster, since Seifer had been nothing but cruel all day yesterday. Now he was realising that the last thing Robbie needed was more confidence.

"I _know _what I'm _doing_!" Robbie insisted, and pretended to look carefully at the map. Zell knew he was pretending, since he was in fact looking at a detailed plan of the Timber region. Zell hadn't even realised Timber was _on _the map he'd handed the kid.

"I'm sure you do - I can just quickly check, though. Just for my peace of mind…"

"You don't trust me." Robbie dropped the map and stared Zell dead in the eye, "Is that it?"

"No, no, no, no…" Zell waved at the air between them, as if to clear away the very thought. In fact, that was exactly it. A few things were adding up: the fact that they'd definitely been circling for the past twenty minutes, the frequent little "Seifer" comments ("Seifer wouldn't have done that," "Seifer says it's better this way," "I think Seifer would…") and the fact that Zell had seen Robbie eat the last of their snacks and then deny it, spraying crumbs over the entire forest as he protested. As a result, Zell didn't really trust anything this kid could do or say from now on. Not for the first time, he missed Xanthe.

"You know, if Seifer asked someone to read a map for him – not that he would have to – I think he would actually listen-"

"Seifer hasn't listened to one word you've said to him since the two of you met!" Zell cut the kid off angrily, "And Seifer wouldn't trust you with a single tent peg, let alone the map! You know whose idea it was to swap partners? Your precious SEIFER'S!"

Ma was always telling Zell he needed better control over his temper. He regretted the words the second they were out of his mouth, and the all-encompassing, exploding rage passed. Robbie stared at him, with an expression Zell couldn't read.

"I'm sorry," Zell said quickly, "I shouldn't have said that. Um…"

"It's not true," Robbie said quietly.

Zell nodded. "Yeah."

"You're lying!"

"Yeah I am. I was."

There was another awkward silence, where neither boy looked at each other, then Robbie finally thrust the map back at Zell. "I don't feel like reading the stupid thing anymore, anyway."

As bad as Zell felt about his words, he still snatched the map back with relief. He studied it quickly, found their current spot. They weren't too far off, and there were some pretty decent tracks nearby and no major slopes or water-crossings. They could make up the lost ground pretty easily, he figured.

"Right," he said when he'd sorted the track out, "Let's see if we can get there before the other two, hey?"

Robbie said nothing. He was still glowering at Zell from across the path.

"…ok, cool." Zell said, and led the way onwards into the forest.

"You won't beat Seifer," he told him. Those were the last words Robbie spoke to Zell in at least an hour's furious hiking.

0o0o0o0o0o

Only a few miles ahead, Nida staggered from his tent. It was like a sauna in there – he was dripping from head to toe with sweat. Paradoxically, he also couldn't stop shivering as he threw his items together. The tent he couldn't really manage with his clumsy, slippery fingers so in a fit of frustration he threw the jumble of fabric to the ground. He could always get another one back at Garden, say it got destroyed somehow. After his small tantrum he had to lay flat on the ground for a few minutes until a dizzy-spell passed, but then he was ready to go.

Hopefully, since he was travelling with no children and Squall was laden with two, he would catch the rest of his teammates soon. He was unsure what time it was – every time he glanced at his watch the number swam before his eyes until he felt like throwing up – and did, the first two times he tried to look. He'd told Squall he would only need a few hours longer rest than the rest of them – hopefully he hadn't snoozed too long and taken an extra one somehow!

Once he felt somewhat improved, he raised himself onto his hands and knees, shouldered his backpack, and set off in a determined crawl out of the clearing.


	6. Overcoming Adversity

Squall was not happy about how long it took him to get down the sheer face of the cliff in the pitch black of night, carrying two backpacks and a medium-sized child. It was something he'd have to get more practice in – what if it came up on the SeeD field exam? What if a mission required it? He added it to his mental list of things to do as soon as he got back. He had a free afternoon on Wednesday… what could he use for the child? Would a child volunteer? Would it stay quiet or want to talk? Should he just use a sack of flour or something? Where would he even get a sack of flour?

"Squall? Are you ok?"

Squall suddenly realised that the little boy had been looking at him expectantly since he reached the bottom of the cliff, deep in thought, about five minutes ago. The sky was a light grey now, almost melting into a pale pink at the edges. The sun would start to rise soon.

"Fine," he replied. He studied the child. The kid hadn't managed to find his pants in all the time Squall had spent climbing, but had fashioned himself a weird-looking skirt out of part of his tent. He also looked pretty banged up. "Are you injured?"

"My ankle hurts a bit. The rest are just scrapes and stuff."

"Hmm."

Squall quickly examined the boy's ankle, which was already quite swollen. Great. This would slow them down immensely. He applied an antiseptic to the kid's skin wounds, ignoring the gasps of pain, and wrapped the ankle. Finally, he cast a quick Cure to relieve the pain. In retrospect, maybe he should have done that before applying the burning salve. Oh well, it would last longer this way. The boy, previously scowly and wincing, leaned back with a dreamy smile.

"That's the stuff," he told Squall, who wasted no time in hefting him to his feet by the back of his shirt.

"We need to keep moving. Carbuncle knows we've lost enough time already. And I'd like to get this girl some medical attention."

"Billie," a tiny voice behind them suddenly piped up.

Squall spun around. The girl was blinking in confusion, but sitting up on her own.

"What?" he asked.

"My name. It's Billie."

Squall couldn't think of a single reason he would require that information, but in the interests of not insulting a concussed child, he didn't point it out.

"I'm glad you're up," he told her. She was just barely propped up but he thought maybe the encouragement would boost her confidence, and then she would get up. Who said he wasn't sensitive to others' feeling, Instructor Trepe?

He was right – kind of. She slowly climbed to her feet, propping herself against a tree. She took a few shaky steps to another tree, which she held onto.

"My head hurts," she told him.

Squall sent a Cure her way. He located another Ice – his last one, he'd have to go do some drawing soon – and made an ice-pack for the boy's ankle. The best thing for it would be to take weight off it as much as possible, say by slinging an arm around someone's shoulder and walking together. But the girl – Billie – didn't look like she could take her own weight, really, and he definitely didn't want to encourage physical contact, particularly with a pantsless child. He didn't need that on his record.

"Keep your eyes peeled for a stick," he told the boy, "You can use it as a cane or something. We really need to get going."

So, with Billie staggering along somewhat light-headed, and the boy limping painfully and half-hopping with a broken branch, they started walking alongside the cliff face.

"My name is Eli," the boy told Squall helpfully, "I mentioned it before, a few times. Eli."

Squall felt less sympathy for this child than for Billie, and therefore felt no reason to hesitate in outlining exactly why he didn't care.

0o0o0o0o0o

Xanthe was becoming more and more impressed with the limitless energy Seifer was showing. Previously she would have guessed that Zell was the most durable of all the SeeD candidates, but Seifer was showing him up in her opinion. Not only had he crossed the river three times, but when he reached the other side, looking ready to collapse, and noticed the Caterchipillars destroying their things, he'd immediately burst back into life.

Xanthe had honestly never seen such a massacre, not in her history books, not on television, not in the training room – and she'd seen some disastrous training sessions. Seifer had sliced most of the bugs in half with one swing of his gunblade, but he hadn't stopped there. Now they stood, looking over what was left of their belongings, covered in the sticky goop that was all that was left of the monsters.

The map had been chewed at both ends, and the remnants looked like wet newspaper. None of the food was edible, and Seifer's raincoat and jacket were write-offs. Xanthe felt despondent, sad, defeated. Seifer was stalking up and down the bank, slashing at the air with his gunblade and ranting in what seemed to be the longest sentence Xanthe had ever heard – though she was tuning in and out, so she wasn't sure.

"Smash them in their stupid tentacle faces and I'll goo right back on them next time, if they actually think-"

Xanthe spread what was left of the map flat on the ground. She could tell where they were – the thickest river on the map, thicker now that its lines blurred and spread into the damp paper around it. She could tell where they had to go – the path that would eventually lead all the way to Garden, mercifully unsullied by the Caterchipillars. It was just this big mess in the middle that was the problem – and considering Seifer's plan before now had been to just ignore everything in between point A and B, she guessed that nothing had _really changed. _Her spirits were lifting somewhat, because if she was learning anything from Seifer it was to not let little things dissuade her from her goal – when a few drops of water plopped down from the sky onto the paper in front of her.

Seifer stopped midrant, looked up at the dark clouds gathering above them. Xanthe was already collecting what items she could, throwing them into her backpack, scanning the woods for cover. She glanced at her partner, worried. Would this push him over the edge? But when she looked more closely, she saw that Seifer was smiling.

"Well alright! This oughta slow old fancy- faux-fur-jacket down! How's he going to hike if his hair is all wet and his boots get all muddy? Not to mention any obstacle generally proves insurmountable to the chicken-wuss!"

Xanthe didn't bring up the fact that Seifer's raincoat, SeeD candidate issued jacket and tent had just been destroyed.

"Well the joke's on you, Leviathan! We're already soaking wet!"

Xanthe thought about it for a second. He wasn't wrong. They were both drenched with river water they had no way of drying off, what was a little rain? She handed him what was left of his belongings.

"So kid, this is what it comes down to. Are you up for a challenge, or do you want to take the Chicken-Wuss approach and try to hide in some kind of rabbit's den until this passes?"

Xanthe knew there was only one right answer. Though she doubted whether anyone else would consider plunging into an unknown section of forest, in a rainstorm, with little protection or warm clothing and no map "right", she smiled at her teammate. "Let's do it."

0o0o0o0o0o

Everything was looking like smooth sailing. Zell had found them a clear, easy path that should get them back ASAP. He was feeling fresh, Robbie was keeping up and he'd found some more snacks in a hidden pocket of his knapsack. Sure, Robbie hadn't spoken a word to him since the whole map debacle, but the peace wasn't horrible. Then they heard voices ahead.

"EAST."

Zell stopped dead. No. Please, no, anyone but-

"I think East is this way, ya know?"

"You're both idiots," a nasally little voice spoke up. Zell couldn't deny the truth in the words, but he also felt a sudden urge to punch the speaker in the face.

"Jerkhead." Beside him, Robbie whispered what they were both thinking. It was the first word the boy had said for an hour. Zell let out a surprised bark of laughter.

"What was that?" the annoying voice snapped.

"BUSHES."

A second later the bush in front of them was shoved aside, and the scowling faces of Raijin, Fujin and an obnoxious looking child peered back at them.

"ZELL."

"Robert Taragon." It was two words, but it made Zell want to smack the kid in the face.

"Weren't you in Seifer's team?" Raijin asked Zell. "Where's Seifer?"

"We split up."

"Probably at Garden by now, ya know?" Raijin grinned to Fujin.

"Weren't you also with Xanthe Myers?" the snobbish kid asked Robbie.

"We. Split. Up." Robbie enunciated, then after a short pause, added, "Declan Myrmont." Clearly there was no love lost between these two either.

Declan sniffed. "I can't say that was a wise decision on your front. Her grades and abilities outweigh yours by a large margin."

Pretty much what he was saying, Zell figured, was: "You suck." Robbie didn't have to take that standing up!

"Grades aren't everything," Zell pointed out, "There's more to life than reading a book."

"CORRECT," Fujin agreed.

"Yeah," Raijin nodded, "Like how you get better marks than Seifer coz he's never in class… but he's better than you at everything, ya know?"

Honestly, Zell was surprised it took him that long before he punched one of them in the face. Raijin sprang back at him in a second, his teammate on his heels. Zell landed a good kick right in the stomach and sent him flying into a tree, then turned to Fujin. Fujin threw a punch at Zell which he easily dodged, drawing her arms behind her back and pinning them. Raijin was climbing up, reaching for his staff. Declan was sitting on Robbie's chest, punching him squarely in the face, over and over. Zell reached out with a foot and prodded the kid off his teammate, not relinquishing his grip on Fujin. Hopefully it would give Robbie a chance to take over.

Then Raijin began beating him on the back of the head with his staff. By the fifth whack, Zell had to spin around to block him, and Fujin slipped from his grip. She immediately reached for her weapon, spinning it through her fingers and preparing to throw it. Zell chanced a quick look at Robbie, who was once more being pummelled mercilessly.

With a roll of his eyes, Zell slid underneath Raijin's weapon to where the team had left their belongings. He thrust his hand into the pile and groped about for a second until he found what he was after. Both upperclassmen were throwing themselves at him when he spun and fired the flare gun over their heads.

A single Ultima spell was released in the tiny clearing, momentarily blinding everyone in the group. Zell could see or hear nothing, but he ran straight in the direction he'd left Robbie. Declan had stumbled off, leaving Zell free to grab Robbie by the upper arm and drag him away. The bright light was clearing as they passed the pile of bags. Zell stopped briefly to survey the situation. Declan, Raijin and Fujin, having been facing the flare gun when it had gone off, were all crouched on the ground, rubbing their eyes. Robbie was taking advantage of the situation and was pocketing snacks from their enemies' bags (Ok, all of a sudden Zell liked this kid a lot more). The third kid – wait, what?

A freckle-faced little boy with spiky blond hair was sitting amongst the bags, reading. He looked up at Zell, bored.

"Can I come with you guys?" he asked. His voice was faint over the screech the flare left in Zell's head, but he understood what he was asking. He glanced at Raijin, Fujin and Declan again, all writhing annoyingly on the ground.

"Um, sure," he nodded. "Ok guys, let's run."

As the three other Garden students slowly rose, their heads throbbing and their ears ringing, Zell, Declan and the other random kid sprinted off into the forest. Above them, there was a rumbling of thunder – and not the magic kind.

0o0o0o0o0o

Nida wasn't sure how far he'd crawled – he'd kind of lost track of time. The way the forest swirled around him was a bit disconcerting, but he just grit his teeth together and kept crawling. For a little while his arms and legs became too weak to carry him, so he had to writhe along like a worm, but after a tiny mini-nap he was able to resume crawling. He scanned ahead for any sight of Squall, but so far had come up with nothing. He was sure he could keep crawling for a long time, so he wasn't too worried.

Up above, the skies opened and rain thudded down all around him.


End file.
